Delivered Cheyenne 16/5/44; Kearney 25/5/44; Dow Fd 1/6/44; Assigned 533BS/381BG [VP-T] Ridgewell 10/6/44; battle damaged Villaroche A/fd 13/6/44 with Milton Tarr, Co-pilot: George Reese, Navigator: Chas Gilpin, Bombardier: Ken Cagwin, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Russ Chadwick, Radio Operator: Dale Moon, Ball turret gunner: Lou Beneke, Waist gunner: Ken Mason,Tail gunner: Joe White (9 Returned to Duty), on return detailed to Lt Staughton depot, Salvaged 2 SAD 24/6/44. SECOND YEAR.



533rd BS War Diary, 13/6/44: Under the command of 1st Lt George W. Reese, Jr, 533rd operation officer, the 381st formation, with nine from this squadron, struck at the airdrome and Melun/Villaroche, France, today. Visual bombing was accomplished, and returning crewmen reported seing many bomb bursts among the hangars and dispersal areas. Flak at the target was meagre and no enemy fighters were met. All our ships returned safely to base with no casualties. Today's pilots were: Lancaster, Dunkel, Anderson, Palmer, Wilson, Holland, Henderson and Tarr (see following story).



A severely crippled Flying Fortress, 43-37737, returning from today's bombing operation against the airfield at Melun, southeast of Paris, narrowly avoided a pick-a-back landing atop a sister ship and spun neatly to a halt on the grass beside the runway. The bomber, piloted by 1st Lt Milton F. Tarr, carrying 1st Lts George W. Reese, Jr, who acted as group commander for this mission, had been hit by flak near the French coast on its way back from the target. In a few brief moments just about everything possible happened to the Fortress. The #2 engine was knocked out of commission and its prop left windmilling. The #1 engine went out a second later, the oxygen supply was cut off and the lef wheel came seeping out of its sheath.

"A piece of falk came flying into the nose," Lt Reese said, "and went skimming past the seat of the navigator's pants. Another piece went through the cockpit, and a second later, there wasn't an instrument left in working order." With two engines out on the same side and one prop windmilling, without instruments, with landing gear damaged, and (as the pilot discovered later) with the landing flaps "knocked silly", the pilot and co-pilot brought their ship home. The radio was non-operational, so contact could not be made with the control tower for the landing, so the ship could make only one pass at the runway because it would not be possible to regain altitude. That accounts for the fact that it started to come in on the runway while another ship was making its landing. The two men in the cockpit fought the controls with great strength and skill, managing to turn the cripple Fort off to the side of the runway and groundloop beautifully on the grass to keep the ship from running into parked aircraft. The #2 prop fell off as the landing was made and and smashed into the bottom of the fuselage, part of one side and took off a piece of the stabilizer. But the entire crew walked away from the ship. The Fortress, a new bomber tentatively called "Second Year" in honour of the Group's combat anniversary on 22 June, was pounced on by its ground crew immediately after the landing and is expected to fly again in a few days." (Well, it didn't.)